Consumer products are commonly sold in retail stores that market such products by placing them on store shelves. Many consumer products are free-standing (e.g., cereal boxes, cans of soup) such that they do not require a support apparatus to be placed on a shelf. Other consumer products, however, are not substantially free-standing. Of these non-substantially-free-standing products, some of them require a particular orientation on the shelf (e.g., packages that have oriented surface indicia). One particular example of interest is disposable diapers.
Many disposable diapers are packaged in flexible film (e.g., low density polyethylene). Once packaged, the resulting package shape is generally rectangular in shape. Such rectangular shapes typically have a larger front and rear surface which provides the most surface area for the placement of surface indicia (e.g., graphics, text, pictures). However, basic scientific principles (e.g., center of gravity) dictate that the rectangular shape package is most stabile when placed on one of these larger surfaces. Thus, the surface indicia is not seen by the consumer, especially when one package is stacked on top of another. If the consumer can not find their desired product on the shelf amongst a multitude of stacked packages, then the consumer is unlikely to purchase your product. Furthermore, when the consumer searches through the several stacks, they are more likely to mix the product versions with one another. In addition to the consumer's frustrations, the store clerk has similar difficulties when attempting to determine reorder amounts and proper product placement.
In addition to the problems of upright stability, the retailing of disposable diaper packages presents other challenges. For instance, typically disposable diapers are shipped in large cardboard boxes from the manufacturer to the various retailers. Some of these retailers have large store shelves for the marketing of these large cardboard boxes such that the individual diapers are not removed from said boxes by the retailer. Such retailers are hereinafter referred to as “club stores”. While the selling of large cardboard boxes often provides cost-related benefits, cardboard box side surfaces often do not include aesthetically-pleasing advertising. In addition, providing aesthetically-pleasing printing on the cardboard box would significantly increase costs, particularly since printing on most cardboard boxes usually includes only a few ink colors. Further, given that cardboard boxes are opaque, they do not permit the consumer to immediately recognize the printed graphics on the diapers which is a major consideration for the wearer. Unlike club stores, however, some retailers have minimal store shelf space and thus remove the individual packages of diapers from said cardboard boxes for subsequent sale. Such retailers are hereinafter referred to as “conventional stores”. While the individual retailing of disposable diapers provides for aesthetically-pleasing advertising, said diapers often incur the upright stability issues discussed above.
What is needed is multi-presentational packaging for disposable diapers such that said package may be presented in either a multi-package form for club stores while still providing aesthetically-pleasing advertising or a single-package form for conventional stores while still providing upright stabile packages.